How the San Antonio Spurs Developmental System Will Ensure a Playoff Berth in the Upcoming Season
In the NBA, you can divide teams into having two separate strengths: a team with win-now talent, and a team with youth and potential. The San Antonio Spurs have both of these strengths. The Spurs have players that are already established and ready to compete, like Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox. They also have young talent that they can develop for the future, like Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Dylan Harper. With both of these roster strengths, the Spurs can be a perennial playoff team.
San Antonio has strong depth at the center position. Wemby is the player who will get the most focus, thanks to him already being a generational talent. In the 2024-2025 season, he finished with the most total blocks in the season despite being sidelined with an injury in February. If Wemby can have a healthy season and develop his offense further, he could finish this season as the runaway Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA first team, and a top-five NBA MVP candidate. They also have veteran bigs like Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynk to make sure that there's always a competent big man on the floor, and they can run a double big lineup with Wemby being a stretch five.
The Spurs have a strong guard rotation that would make most teams jealous. For the foreseeable future, they have the upside of Fox, a developed star that can average 25 points next to Wemby. After Fox, they have two young guards who can be the point guard of the future. Castle is coming off winning the 2025NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and his development in his second year will only strengthen his role on the roster. Then the surprising dark horse is the number two overall draft pick. If this were any other young team, then Dylan Harper would be the undisputed point guard of the future. The fact that the Spurs have him and two other great point guards is a privilege the rest of the league wishes they had. They have the option to play one of their younger guards next to Fox, while the two others can act as spark plugs off the bench. With this roster, the NBA Play-In Tournament is looking like it might be the floor this year; they’ll likely be able to compete for the fifth or sixth seed as their ceiling.
